India to host West Indies for T20 in Lucknow as international cricket returns to city after 24 years

Noida: Lucknow’s Ekana International Cricket Stadium has been confirmed for its first international match in the form of a T20I between India and West Indies on November 6.

The 50,000-seater Ekana Stadium has so far hosted only domestic games. It was earmarked to host an ODI against New Zealand in 2017. The game, though, had to be moved to Kanpur due to pending infrastructure work.

This stadium has so far hosted five domestic cricket matches since it was inaugurated in 2016 including the 2017-18 Duleep Trophy final between India Red and India Blue.

The last time an international match was held in Lucknow was in 1994 when India beat Sri Lanka in a Test match at KD Babu Stadium.

During the tour which extends for more than a month, West Indies will play two Tests, five ODIs and 3 T20Is against India.

Rajkot and Hyderabad will host the two-Test series whereas the five ODIs will be played in Guwahati, Indore, Pune, Mumbai and Thiruvananthapuram. The three T20Is will be played in Kolkata, Lucknow and Chennai.

Schedule of West Indies tour of India

1st Test: October 4-8 at Rajkot2nd Test: October 12-16 at Hyderabad

1st ODI: October 21 at Guwahati2nd ODI: October 24 at Indore3rd ODI: October 27 at Pune4th ODI: October 29 at Mumbai5th ODI: November 1 at Thiruvananthapuram

1st T20I: November 4 at Kolkata2nd T20I: November 6 at Lucknow3rd T20I: November 11 at Chennai